Stop-and-frisk, Bratton generate heat

CRIME

Updated 1:01 pm, Thursday, January 24, 2013

The Oakland City Council heard hours of public comment Tuesday before voting to hire William Bratton as a consultant.

The Oakland City Council heard hours of public comment Tuesday before voting to hire William Bratton as a consultant.

Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle

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Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan speaks to the City Council which is expected to address the contract with William Bratton that indorses the "stop and frisk " policy, at The Oakland City Council meeting Tuesday Jan 22, 2013, in Oakland California.

Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan speaks to the City Council which is expected to address the contract with William Bratton that indorses the "stop and frisk " policy, at The Oakland City Council meeting

Gene Hazzard from Oakland spoke out against the contract with William Bratton that indorses the "stop and frisk " policy, at The Oakland City Council meeting Tuesday Jan 22, 2013, in Oakland California.

Gene Hazzard from Oakland spoke out against the contract with William Bratton that indorses the "stop and frisk " policy, at The Oakland City Council meeting Tuesday Jan 22, 2013, in Oakland California.

Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle

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Members of the audiance at the Oakland City Council meeting take part in the national prayer prior to the start of the meeting Tuesday Jan 22, 2013, in Oakland California.

Members of the audiance at the Oakland City Council meeting take part in the national prayer prior to the start of the meeting Tuesday Jan 22, 2013, in Oakland California.

Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle

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An emotional Jessica Hollie from Oakland spoke out against the contract with William Bratton that indorses the "stop and frisk " policy, at The Oakland City Council meeting Tuesday Jan 22, 1013, in Oakland California.

An emotional Jessica Hollie from Oakland spoke out against the contract with William Bratton that indorses the "stop and frisk " policy, at The Oakland City Council meeting Tuesday Jan 22, 1013, in Oakland

Oakland Police Officers Michael Osanna crosses the police lines as he investigate and patrol the 800 block of Mead Ave, Friday Dec. 28, 2012, where two young men were killed earlier in the morning in Oakland, Calif. One day after Oakland officials outline new steps to help reduce the city's soaring crime rate, three more homicides were recorded. The city is now facing 130 homicides so far this year, breaking the five-year record when the number was 127.

Oakland Police Officers Michael Osanna crosses the police lines as he investigate and patrol the 800 block of Mead Ave, Friday Dec. 28, 2012, where two young men were killed earlier in the morning in Oakland,

Oakland Police Officers investigate the murder scene on the 800 block of Mead Ave, Friday Dec. 28, 2012, where two young men were killed earlier in the morning in Oakland, Calif. One day after Oakland officials outline new steps to help reduce the city's soaring crime rate, three more homicides were recorded. The city is now facing 130 homicides so far this year, breaking the five-year record when the number was 127.

Famed lawman William Bratton was pilloried by hundreds of Oakland activists who fear he will bring "stop-and-frisk" tactics to the city.

But they're already here.

In fact, the practice is widely used by police across the country and hardly new: The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed its legality nearly a half century ago.

"Every police department in America does it," Bratton boasted to a television interviewer, days before the Oakland City Council's vote early Wednesday to hire him as a consultant to the Police Department. "Any police department in America that tries to function without some form of stop-and-frisk, or whatever terminology they use, is doomed to failure. It's that simple."

But a prevalent misunderstanding that stop-and-frisk is uncommon - along with Bratton's persistent advocacy of it - have made the man and the method synonymous.

The issue is especially fraught in Oakland - the City Council heard hours of public comment before voting, 7-1, at 2 a.m. Wednesday to approve Bratton's consultant contract - because of how sensitivity over racial profiling by police is running head-on into concern about rising crime in California's most violent city.

Crime has surged as Oakland police stops of citizens have dropped 75 percent in three years. At the same time, however, the Police Department's failure to conduct stops properly has kept it under a decade-long oversight by a federal court. Complicating those issues is an active and often polarized citizenry, some of whom clamor for an increase in the very policing that others resent.

Police say they have to walk a careful line when it comes to stop-and-frisk, understanding all those sides.

'Time-tested' tool

"The reality is that these are time-tested and lawful law-enforcement tools that society and citizens expect law enforcement officers to understand and use," said Sgt. Chris Bolton, chief of staff to Police Chief Howard Jordan.

The definition of stop-and-frisk is fairly straightforward, civil rights attorneys and Oakland police agree. If an officer has a reasonable suspicion that a person might be involved in a crime, the officer can stop that person and ask questions.

A 1968 U.S. Supreme Court Case, Terry vs. Ohio, established the "reasonable suspicion" standard in these cases, which is less stringent than the "probable cause" that is required in searches of belongings or the inside of a person's pockets.

But that seemingly straightforward definition has come under scrutiny because of how Bratton, 65, emphasized stop-and-frisk as the top cop in Los Angeles, Boston and, especially, in New York.

Small crimes targeted

Bratton's officers also cracked down on small crimes, on the theory that most were committed by people who were also committing major offenses. He told interviewers that the more subway-fare evaders his officers stopped and frisked, the more guns they removed from the streets.

What civil rights attorneys argued was that New York police were poorly trained, didn't properly track the practice and ended up violating the rights of many people, particularly ethnic minorities. Those problems weren't unique to New York, Schlosser said.

"Stop-and-frisk as implemented by police departments in this country is applied in such a way that they violate people's privacy rights and rights to be free from racial profiling," Schlosser said. "That fear is not that paranoid or speculative. Time and again, these kinds of laws have been applied unconstitutionally."

Critics of stop-and-frisk say violations of civil rights are a toxic legacy of Bratton's policies.

In New York from 2002 to 2011 - well after Bratton's time - Latinos and African Americans made up close to 90 percent of those detained by police under stop-and-frisk, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union. About 88 percent of all people detained under stop-and-frisk were innocent of any crime, the group said.

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón worked as a Los Angeles police commander for three years during Bratton's tenure as chief there from 2002 to 2009. He described Bratton as passionate about crime reduction and aware of the legal limitations of stop-and-frisk.

"He has an understanding of policing that very few people in this country have," Gascón said. "If his advice is implemented, I think it could have a very positive impact in reducing crime in Oakland in a way that is thoughtful, effective and respectful of human dignity and civil rights."

L.A. turnaround

In Los Angeles, Bratton inherited a department whose reputation was in tatters, particularly among minorities. A group of gang-unit officers had recently been indicted for planting evidence, stealing drugs and covering up police shootings in what became known as the Rampart scandal.

Detective Tyler Izen, president of the Los Angeles police officers union, said Bratton had restored trust by walking the neighborhoods and creating bonds with community leaders.

Bratton also pressed his captains to host smaller meetings on their beats, Izen said, to ask residents what they wanted from police and how officers could better serve them.

"Bill Bratton did a fantastic job of going out and telling the story of the Los Angeles police officer," Izen said. "The community now recognizes what the LAPD is trying to do - to help them and fight crime. They see we're much more transparent and available to their needs."

Shortly before Bratton resigned from the department in 2009, a federal judge lifted a consent decree put in place after the Rampart scandal. Later that year, a Harvard University study found that 83 percent of city residents rated the job performance of the department as good or excellent.

Vague role in Oakland

How Bratton's experience will translate to Oakland is unclear. The firm for which he works as a consultant will be paid $250,000, but its contract is vague about what Bratton's duties will be. Mayor Jean Quan said last week that she didn't favor stop-and-frisk - "not the way people have been describing it."

Chief Jordan said he had changed his mind about putting Bratton in a community-outreach role, "based on some of the reaction from the community."

"We want to get things done," Jordan said. "We don't want to be distracted by things that are not part of the plan."